Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Barred From Leaving The Country

The newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad barred his predecessor, Najib Razak, from going overseas on Saturday, saying there was enough evidence to investigate his links to a multi-billion-dollar scandal.

Immigration authorities issued a travel ban on Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor just minutes after the ousted prime minister said they were leaving on a weeklong trip overseas to rest after his thumping electoral defeat.

“It is true that I prevented Najib from leaving the country,” Mahathir said at a news conference, adding that doing so had averted extradition problems later.

After the ban on his travel was announced, Najib said in a Twitter message that he would respect the decision and would remain in the country.

Questions about his whereabouts were answered when he appeared at a meeting of his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) to announce that he was stepping down as the party’s president and as chairman of the Barisan Nasional, the alliance dominated by UMNO that has ruled Malaysia for six decades.

Najib lost the election at least partly because of popular disgust over the 1MDB scandal.

News broke in 2015 that about $700 million allegedly stolen from 1MDB had made its way into his personal bank accounts.

He denied any wrongdoing, even as U.S. authorities alleged that over $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund in a fraud orchestrated by a financier known to be close to Najib and his family.

U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions called the 1MDB scandal “kleptocracy at its worst” and the fund is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

Filings by the U.S. Justice Department in a civil lawsuit indicated nearly $30 million of the money stolen was used to buy jewellery for Rosmah, including a rare 22-carat pink diamond set in a necklace.